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Buckskin medicine bag, North America, 1880-1920

Native American Indians often designed bags to hold specific objects. Medicine bags were often intricately decorated with traditional beading designs. This was especially the case if they held important or sacred contents. We can only speculate about what this bag held. It is made of buckskin (deer hide). It was created by the Plains Indians of North America. The bag is decorated with braided hide and tassels and forms a soft pouch.

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Glossary

Glossary:

Glossary: traditional medicine

Used in the West for sets of health beliefs and practices that developed within the culture of a particular ethnic or geographic group of people, distinct from modern Western medicine. Commonly includes herbal and homeopathic remedies, religious or spiritual ritual, and an holistic approach to patients.